Knitting Friday

A fast post today since this is a traveling day which means an hour plus drive turns into a half day journey because you have to pack. Ah, packing. I want to be rich, just in the sense you can travel from place to place with only a purse since you know wherever you land, all your stuff will be waiting for you.

But we have computer back-ups, food gathering, bag packing, just tedious stuff. Then we have those full flights of stairs to climb as we cart our precious stuff to and from the car. The time adds up.

Some fast knitting news:

1. The Tess Shawl is not done. It does feel so soft though which is surprising because I was really disliking the Red Heart 25% wool. However on US10.5 needles it's got a nice feel. (OK, nice is really a lame adjective but I am rushing here and the brain is lagging about 5 steps behind.) More on this next week (not the brain, the shawl.)

2. I did finish the white cotton thread shawl and here's the pattern.

Crochet Cotton Shawl:
With J hook and double strand of thread (you can use single):
1. Chain 5, join with slip stitch.
2. Chain 3 and make 3 double crochets in ring
3. *Chain 4. Turn. Make three double crochets in 4th chain from hook. (This is your 1 shell increase.)
4. Slip Stitch in Ch 3 space of previous row. Then chain 3 and make 3 double crochets in this space.*
(You now have Row 1 with one ch 3 - 3 dc shell and Row 2 with two ch 3 - 3 dc shells.)
4. Repeat from *...* making the ch3-3dc shells in the ch 3 spaces across and the increase with the Ch 4, turn, 3 dc in 4th ch from hook at the end of each row.
5. That's it. Just keep repeating *Ch 4, T, 3 dc in 4th ch from hook, (sl st in next ch-3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same ch - 3 sp) across. When you get to your desired size, just stop with a shell in the last ch- 3 space. (See note)

Note: After a few rows when you start to see the shape, mark the edge opposite the Ch-4 edge. End your shawl at the end of the row where this mark is on the right hand side.

Here's a variation of this pattern:

http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/sweet%20february%20shawl.html

This is a very popular pattern but I think my variation is the easiest. I also make this pattern as a rectangular shawl but I'll have to weed through my notes for those directions.

Next week: the Tess shawl and pictures